TFP’s designs for the BEA Finance Tower combine elegant, contemporary aesthetics with a modern, technologically advanced building form. The striking development offers high efficiency levels and responds to China’s increasing concern for environmental protection.
Developed as Shanghai’s new central business district, Pudong with its ever-changing skyline is often seen as the commercial symbol of Shanghai. As a result, any new developments have to respond not only to market demand but are also required to contribute to the city’s visual and spatial dynamism.
BEA Finance Tower development is a grade-A office building in a prominent location in the Lujiazui commercial district of Pudong. Standing 180 metres tall, it consists of three underground levels, a 40-storey tower and a five-floor podium structure, which is dedicated to restaurants, public facilities and support services.
Although there are view corridors of the river and the Bund, the site is set back from the waterfront and has to compete with prominent high rises, notably the Jin Mao Building, currently the tallest skyscraper in China. TFP proposed a structure that was layered into three principal forms. A central circulation and service core is flanked by two floor plates with the west wing of the building rising above the other two components. The creation of this stepped effect brings a level of clarity and directness to the building’s massing.
Each element functions independently but is bound into a singular composition by complementary materials and modularity. This adds significantly to China Global Finance Tower’s instant-recognition factor and enhances both the view potential and the building’s silhouette on the skyline. The façades react differently to the environment through orientation, materials and technology within the building envelope. Fluctuations in heat gain and loss are limited, the building’s sustainability is maximised and operational efficiency is improved.
Following detailed analysis into solar insulation, four types of cladding were established, each of which is designed to deal with a specific environmental aspect. To minimise excessive solar gain and building heat load on the south-west and south-east elevations, the percentage of glazed areas is reduced, horizontal shading devices are provided and low-emissive glass is used.
Glare protection from the low-setting sun is required on the north-west side but because the principal views of the local park lie in this direction maintaining an open, glazed vista is important. To keep the views while simultaneously limiting glare, large areas of the north-west façade are glazed and vertical fins introduced to shade the interior and allow for lighting effects at night. As well as producing an elongating effect, the fins add visual interest and depth to the façade rendering at all times.
The north-east façade has neutral solar gain and is mainly glazed with low-e glass to maximise views. TFP captured the sense of the greenery being swept vertically into the building by positioning sky gardens on the various refuge floors and creating a visual link to the park from ground level upwards.
The use of other energy-efficient systems was also a main intent of the design and the building has a responsive Building Management System (BMS). This controls the interior environment to achieve optimum use of energy resources and maintains the internal air temperature and air quality.
Solar collectors are set on an angled surface on the roof of the south-west block of the tower to achieve optimum performance, contribute to the lighting of the common areas and potentially pre-heat the air and water systems. Grey-water collection from the roof is also utilised for irrigation and flushing-water purposes.
During the building’s lifetime, the net aggregate of all these systems will contribute to the limitation of energy use and enhance the profile of the development as an environmentally aware and responsible contribution to the skyline of Pudong.
The city of Shanghai, China is one of the fastest growing cities in the world in terms of skyscraper construction with the City reporting at the end of 2004 that there had been 6,704 buildings of 11 stories or more completed since 1990. As of December 2011, there are 1,057 completed high-rise buildings in the city, and 165 high-rise buildings either under construction, approved for construction, or proposed for construction, of which three are over 300 m (980 ft) high. Since 2008, Shanghai has boasted more free-standing buildings above 400m than any other city apart from Chicago.
Shanghai’s first building boom occurred in the 1920s and 30s, during the city’s heyday as a multinational center of business and finance. The city’s international concessions permitted foreign investment, and with it came architectural styles from the West, as seen today in areas like the French Concession and the Bund. After the Communist takeover in 1949 the city’s development was stifled, punished for its earlier capitalist excesses. After economic reforms in 1991, the city is undergoing its second construction boom to fulfill its desire to regain its status as an important global financial center.
The tallest skyscraper in Shanghai is the Shanghai World Financial Center, which is 492 m (1,614 ft) tall with 101 floors. It is currently the tallest building in the People’s Republic of China and the third-tallest in the world. Shanghai Tower, which is under construction, will become the tallest building in China when completed with a height of 632 m (2,073 ft). It is also slated to be the second tallest building in the world after the Burj Khalifa.
Led by Sir Terry Farrell, TFP Farrells is a firm of internationally recognised architects and urban designers with offices in London, Edinburgh, Hong Kong and Shanghai. The company is renowned for its expertise in architecture, urban design, regeneration, and planning. Farrells is a design-based practice that applies the highest standards of architectural imagination and design excellence to all aspects of a scheme, from initial design to project completion. The practice feels strongly about the creation of tangible civic realms – the vital spaces in between buildings. The large body of work generated by the office over forty years testifies to its wide-ranging experience.
TFP Farrells has a worldwide portfolio of high-profile building schemes and masterplans in cities as diverse as London, Hong Kong, Beijing, Seoul, Sydney, Seattle, Lisbon and Edinburgh. The practice has shaped the debate on architecture and urban design spanning four decades. Many of TFP Farrells projects have won international design awards and the company’s urban design work is featured in publications worldwide.
Location: Shanghai, China
Function: Office Building
Site Area: 8,128 m 2
Building Footprint Area: 2,798 m 2
Total CFA: 90,800 m 2
Total GFA: 70,000 m 2
Storeys: 40 floors + 3 levels of basement (excluding two levels of refuge floor)
Photographer Credits: Photo Paul Dingman Dingman Photo
Completion Date: 2009
Start Date: 2004
Client: Gaopeng (Shanghai) Real Estate Development Co. Ltd
Design Architect: TFP Farrells Limited
Local Design Institute: East China Architectural Design and Research Institute Co. Ltd. (ECADI)
Cladding Consultant: KWP Ltd (Beijing), Ove Arup & Partners Hong Kong Ltd
Interior Design: TFP Farrells Limited
Structural Engineer: East China Architectural Design and Research Institute Co. Ltd. (ECADI)
Service Engineer: East China Architectural Design and Research Institute Co. Ltd. (ECADI)
Main Contractor: Shanghai 7th Construction Company Limited
